Antirail creeper



May 4, 1937. E. c. NEAL ANTIRAIL CREEPER GJVea y Filed Oct. 30, 1935ATTORNEKS,

Patented May 4, 1937 AN TIRAIL CREEPER Ernest C. Neal, Roseburg, Oreg.,assignor to Railway Track Joint Corp., Coquille, Oreg., a corporation ofOregon Application October 30, 1935, Serial No. 47,369

1l Claims.

Thisinvention relates to rail anchors or anti- `creeper devices toprevent the creeping of railroad rails.

The primary object of the invention is to pro- 5 vide a strong, sturdy,durable, Vrelatively inexpensive anti-creeper or rail anchor, which ismade of springy material and has spaced apart jaws provided with a sharpchisel-like edge, whereby whenV the clamp is applied to the rail lflange and tapped or pounded with a maul will cut a recess or aperturein the rail ange to insure the anchor remaining in place, being enhancedby the Yspringy characteristics of the rail` itself. 5

Another Vobject is to provide a strong rail anchor `or `anti-Creeperdevice which can be easily and quickly applied or removed from a rail,which will remain in position when applied, `and which can be veryeconomically manu- 'factured Another object of the invention is themethod of applying a rail anchor to the ange of a rail by driving therail anchor in its holding position and then striking the anchor with amaul or other suitab1e tool to'force the rail anchor to out notches orgrooves into the rail so as to maintain the anchor in its home position.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent throughout theprogress of the following specification.

, The accompanying drawing illustrates a selected embodiment of theinvention, and the views therein are as follows:

Fig. 1 is a detail sectional view of a part of a railroad track andembodying the invention.

Fig.` 3 is a detail perspective View of the improved rail anchor oranti-Creeper device.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional View showing the positioning of the railanchor as it is being applied tothe rail flange but beforeit is poundedto `cut a` groove therein.

u1 Fig.A 5.is a view similar to Fig. 4, but shows the j device after thepounding operation whereby a groove is cut into the rail flange.

50 Fig. 6 is a detail plan section showing the groove cut into the railby the rail anchor after the anchor has been pounded.

Fig. '7 is a detail perspective view of a modified form of railpanchor.

55 Fig. 8 is a detail plan` section showing notches (Cl. 23S-321) whichare cut into the rail by the rail anchor after the anchor has beenpounded.

The rail anchor herein shown for the purpose of illustrating theinvention shown in Figs. 1 to 4 6 inclusive, comprises a clip which isrelatively 5 U-shaped,or in the shape of a C, and comprises a bodyportion I0 provided with a central opening II comprising arms or legs I2and I3 which are spaced apart a predetermined distance I4. The free endsof the arms or legs extend in- 10 wardly a predetermined distance toprovide jaws I5 and I6.

The ends of the jaws I5 and I6 are each provided with upper and lowerchisel edges I1 and relatively flat bottom 20.

'Ihe device is applied to the flange 2| of a rail 22 and is adapted tolie against the edge 23 of a railroad tie 24. The longitudinal distanceof the 20 opening in the rail anchor is sufcient'to permit a substantialportion of the flange 2I to extend within the jaws I5 and I6. Thedistance vertically between the jaws I5 and I6 and particularly betweenthe chisel edges I'I and I8 is con- 25 siderably less than the thicknessof the rail flange where the teeth or chisel edges engage the flange.

The device is adapted to be applied to the rail by pounding at the point25, Fig. 2, to drive the 30 anchor in position relatively to the flange.After the anchor is applied in position the anchor is struck sharply oneor more blows with a maul 26 on the top flat edge I9, whereby the chiseledge or point Il will out a sharp, V-shaped groove 21 35 in the railflange. The cutting or the forming of a notch in the rail flange tendsto support the fiange in its adjusted position and prevents the railanchor from shifting out of its applied position. The rail anchor oranti-creeping device 40 is made of relatively heavy spring steel,somewhat harder than a rail flange, whereby the springiness of the metaltends to urge the jaws in their normal position shown in Fig. 3 and,therefore, when the rail anchor is driven into position on the flange,the springness of the material from which the anchor is made will tendto cause the rail anchor to bite into the flange.

It is well known that attempts have been made to apply a spring railanchor to the flange of a rail, but the objection has been that the railanchor slides off of the inclined surface of the rail because noprovision has been made for locking the anchor to the rail flange.

It is also well known that even though a clampcesses 42 into the flange2l of the rail 22.

ing element is applied to a sloping surface, such as a rail anchor,there will always be a tendency for the device to slip or slide down thesloping surface. However, by providing the rail anchor with chisel teethas herein shown, and then driving these teeth into the rail ange to forma notch or groove into which the chisel edge extends, all danger of thedevice tending to slide off the rail is overcome. Furthermore, when thedevice is in position a short while the bottom chisel edge I8 will tendto cut into the bottom edge by the weight of the load passing over therail, because the bottom of the device is engaging the road bed which isgenerally stone or gravel.

In any such cases where it is dinicult to apply the rail anchor flushwith the face of the tie, the rail anchor may be pounded on the point28, Fig. 1, to drive it in ush position against the rail. It ispreferable, however, that the rail anchor be placed in position flushagainst the tie before the anchor is struck sharply on the top to cutthe groove in the rail. By striking the device sharply on the top, aspreviously described, and as particularly shown in Fig. 2, edges 29 and30, Fig. 6, will be provided, which edges engage the sides of the railanchor at the chisel edges and prevent any slipping movement of the railanchor longitudinally. Even if it were possible for the rail yto creepwith the present improved rail anchor,

this tendency would be overcome because the rail anchor would tend tocant, whereby the rail anchor would bind the rail still more securely.

In Figs. 7 and 8 a modified form of device is shown, but which deviceembodies the same principles. Instead of having continuous chisel edgesI 'I and I8, the device is provided with pairs ci upper and lower teeth4I) and 4I, which may be placed at or relatively close to the sides ofthe rail anchor. This rail anchor, Fig. '7, is applied to the railexactly in the same manner in which the rail anchor previously describedis applied and is tapped sharply on the surface I9 by a maul to forcethe teeth 4I) to cut notches or re- One device is practically aseffective as the other but it has been found that the first describeddevice with the chisel edges is preferable because it can be moreeconomically made.

The invention provides a strong, durable rail anchor which can beapplied in position with the minimum amount of effort and which can bereadily and inexpensively manufactured. The device when applied ispositively maintained in position and positively prevents the rail fromcreeping. Either of the devices can be readily and instantly removed ifand when desired, by the use of a pinch bar or any prying tool, usingthe ball of the rail as the fulcrum for the leverage device.

The anchor embodying the present invention is more universal than theconventional type of anchors, because it iits practically all types ofrails and practically only two types of anchors need be made; one typeto flt the light and medium weight rails, and the other type to fit themedium and heavy weight rails. In the conventional type of rail anchors,where the anchor extends across the bottom of the flange, several sizesof rail anchors are necessary, because the width of the rail flange isusually determinable by the weight of rail used.

In practice it might be further expedient to force the anchor tightly upagainst the flange, that is, so that the outer edge of the frange willbear against the inside edge of the anchor, as

clearly shownl in Fig. 2, to prevent, or at least tend to prevent, thecanting of the anchor and thereby hold the anchor more securely inposition.

Changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of theparts without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificingany of its advantages, and the right is hereby reserved to make all suchchanges as fairly fall within the scope of the following claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

l. A rail anchor comprising a resilient material clip and having upperand lower spring clamping jaws spaced apart a distance sufficient topermit the same to be spread apart when applied to the sloping flange ofa rail, at least one of said jaws being provided with a sharp edge, saidclip having an upper surface adapted to be pounded with a maui or othersuitable tool to drive said edge into the flange of a rail and form areceiving socket or groove for said edge, whereby the anchor will bepositively and securely attached to the rail and prevent relativemovement of the anchor and the rail.

2. The method of applying a hard resilient rail anchor to a rail flangewhich consists in driving the anchor onto the flange, positioning theanchor against a tie, and then striking the top of the anchor to causethe edge of the anchor-to cut a receiving recess into the rail flangeand into which recess the edge remains, whereby they anchor will remainsecurely in position on the rail and prevent the rail from creeping.

3. A generally C-shaped rail anchor of relatively hard resilient metalhaving jaws adapted to be placed over and engage a rail flange, at leasto-ne of the jaws having a sharpened edge, said edge cutting a recessinto the rail flange and receiving the edge when the anchor is hit witha suitable tool to drive the jaws toward each other whereby the anchorwill be prevented from moving, the distance between the jaws at a pointspaced from said sharpened edge being substantially greater than thethickness of the rail flange.

4. A generally C-shaped rail anchor made of hard resilient material andhaving upper and lower spring jaws, the jaws having opposed clampingedges adapted to be placed over and engage the rail flange, at least oneof said edges having sharpened engaging means whereby the sharpenedengaging means may be driven into the flange of the rail by striking theanchor at its upper surface, the jaws at an intermediate section beingsubstantially further apart than the thickness of the flange.

5. A generally C-shaped rail anchor of hard resilient metal havingopposed spring clamping jaws forming an aperture therebetween, said jawshaving teeth adapted to engage a rail flange whereby the teeth may bedriven into the flange of the rail by striking the anchor at its uppersurface, the aperture at an intermediate section being substantiallywider than the thickness of the flange.

6. A generally C-shaped rail anchor of hard resilient metal havingopposed spring clamping jaws forming an aperture therebetween, said jawshaving teeth adapted to engage a rail ange whereby the teeth may bedriven into the flange of the rail by striking the anchor at its uppersurface, the aperture throughout its intermediate portion beingsubstantially wider than the thickness of the flange.

7. A generally C-shaped rail anchor of hard resilient metal havingopposed spring clamping thereon jaws forming an aperture therebetween,said jaws having teeth adapted to engage a rail flange at a pointsubstantially removed from the edge of the flange whereby the teeth maybe driven into the flange by striking the anchor at its upper surface,the aperture being substantially wider than the thickness of the flange.

8. A spring steel rail anchor having a pair of opposed jaws adapted toembrace the edge of a rail flange, the ends of said jaws being adaptedto engage the rail flange on opposite sides at a point removedsubstantially from the edge thereof, said anchor being adapted to bedriven to force a jaw into the material of the flange and thereby firmlysecure the anchor to the flange. I

9. A hard C-shaped spring steel rail anchor having a pair of alignedjaws spaced apart a distance less than the thickness of a rail flangewhereby the jaws may be sprung apart when the anchor is driven upon thesloping ange, one of said jaws terminating in a single set of teeth,parallel to the edge of the rail base and being adapted to be driven asubstantial distance into the ange to thereby cling to the ange andvprevent relative movement of the anchor and flange.

10. A generally C-shaped resilient steel rail anchor, the open ends ofwhich terminate in aligned upper and lower cutting portions spaced aparta distance less than the thickness of a rail flange, whereby the cuttingportions may spring apart when the anchor is driven onto the flange. oneof said cutting portions being adapted to be driven into the material ofthe flange and anchored thereto.

11. A C-shaped unitary hard resilient steel anchor provided with'a pairof jaws having opposed cutting edges adapted to clamp a rail angetherebetween and tobe driven to form depressions in the flange andthereby firmly secure the anchor to the flange.

ERNEST C. NEAL.

